Hand-rail support for trolley-cars.



"F. L. BROOKS.

HAND RAIL SUPPORT FOR TROLLEY CARS.

APPLlCATlON FILED MAY 29. 1915,

1 179,466 n Patented Feb. 1, 1916.

llllI/E/VTOR I THE COLUMBIA PLANOG RRRRRR WASHXNGTDN, n. c.

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Es PATENT OFFIC FRANK L. BRooKs, or NEW YonK, 1v. Y.

HAND-RAIL SUPPORT FOR TROLLE'Y- CARS.

Application filed May 29, 1915. 'seri 'lno. 31,158. 7

ment and has particular reference to im proved facillties for supporting the vertical,

hand rails of open trolley cars in such a manner as to make it practically impossible fora person to alight from the car facing in the wrong direction.

More definitely stated, the invention comprises means for securing the vertical hand rails in permanent rigid position upon the vertical car posts, but extending rearwardly therefrom on the open side of the car so that the hand rails are approximately in alinement with the back of the seat, the object being to so position the hand rail that a person descending from any seat of the car will be practically obliged to grasp the hand rail in front of such seat so that the person will alight facing forwardly.

Another object of the invention is to provide facilities for utilizing the hand rails and their brackets now in common use for the new adaptation.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and While the in vention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designatethe same parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a part of a trolley car indicating my improvement; Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the car posts and hand rails and indicating the relation. thereof to several of the seats shown in plan, the direction of movement of the car being indicated by the arrow; Fig. 8 is a horizontal detail on the line 33 of Fig. l; and Fig. 4 is a similar view indicating a modification.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, a trolley car 10 is indicated and of the open type having seats 11 extending all Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented Febli, 191

the way across the car, each seat having a reversible back 12. Also at 13 is indicated a-runningboardat'either side, and 14 indicates the vertical car posts oneither side to which the backs 12 are pivoted. The parts thus far described are conventional and'ar'e" or may be of any suitable construction.

In the ordinary practice, the vertical hand rails 15 are connected to the posts 14 by means of rigid brackets 16. These brackets ordinarily are connected with their bases 17 fitted squarely against the outer face of a car body or posts and hence each of the brackets has its axis arranged perpendicular to the side of the car. The result is that each hand rail 15 is held directly outwardly from the post and within reach of a passenger alighting either from the seat adjacent such post or from the seat in the rear.

For the purpose of safety, passengers are charged with the duty of grasping the hand rail in front of the seatoccupied by them, but a very common source of danger lies in the fact that many passengers will grasp the hand rail in the rear or opposite the end of the seat previously occupied, with the result that the passengers will alight facing rearwardly.

I am aware that devices have been proposed for supporting the hand rails in a shiftable manner so that they are moved rearwardly simultaneously with the turning of the seat backs rearwardly, but these propositions involve special apparatus and much expense and hence are not acceptable to railway companies. I, therefore, propose to employ the usual brackets 16 and so connect them to the posts 14 that they will be supported permanently and rigidly and with the proper relation to the seat backs. To this end I provide a set of blocks 18, shown best in Fig. 3, of angular formation which are secured rigidly to the posts after the brackets 16 are removed therefrom, each of the/blocks being provided with a flat face against which the base 17 of a bracket is adapted to be bolted in a manner slmilar to theusual-manner of securing the brackets to the posts. The face 18 just referred to may be positioned at any desired angle to the adjacent face of the post so as to throw the hand rail rearwardly on the open side of the car and hence out of convenient reach ja nt t e eto.

As seen in Fig. 2, While the hand rails 15 on the open side of the car extend rear- Wardly for the purposes ust set forth, those on the closed side of the car extend forwardly or in the direction of movement of the car, but since such side is closed by the guard rail 19, the hand rails on such side will not be used until the car is reversed as to the direction and at which time the hand rails will occupy a position with respect to the then open side of the car corresponding to that already described.

For new equipment I may use a bracket 16 such as shown in Fig. 4:, having an angular base 17 adapted to brace a corner of the post 1%, but with the bracket extending rearwardly substantially as already described.

I claim:

In trolley car construction, the combination with a series of seats, a series of vertical posts at the ends of the seats, and a back for each seat movable to a position adjacent either edge of its corresponding seat, of a series of vertically extending hand rails, one adjacent to each end of each seat, and means for rigidly and permanently securing each of said hand rails to a corre sponding post, each of the hand rails on one side of the car being spaced outwardly and rearwardly from its respective post and each of the hand rails on the other side of the car being spaced outwardly and forwardly from its corresponding post.

FRANK L. BROOKS.

lVitnesses A. H. DAVIS, PHILIP D. ROLLHAUS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

